keyboard case charging but not typing

[new2pinephone]

I loved the idea of the keyboard case, but can't get it to type. I have tried most suggestions in https://xnux.eu/pinephone-keyboard/faq.html
 
The fact that it charges the phone makes me believe that the pins are connecting, but there is no typing happening. 
I tried pressing a bit where the pins are, but no difference. Before I try raising the pins on the case, could there be other explanations?

I am running Manjaro KDE Plasma 5.22.4, which I believe should be compatible. If not, how do I get the driver?
I am an enthusiast but not a strong developer, so step-by step commands to use would be immensely appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[_radv_]

new2pinephone,
I am in the same situation as you've described. Did you find a solution? 
Any response is appreciated.

[GoldenArches]

I am having the same issue I can’t remember which version of KDE but it did not work with it. I flashed my phone with mobian and it still does not work.

[GoldenArches]

Same issue will charge but not type I ran both kde manjaro and mobian.

[theResonant]

Same here. Mine also stopped registering keys, but charging works.

I think this problem appeared because I removed the keyboard while the phone was still turned on. I can't remember if the PPKB was connected to a charger when I removed it from the phone, but the phone was definitely on. Definitely a mistake.

Is there any way to see logs from the kernel driver?

I ran "dmesg | grep key" and found this:

Code:

[    0.689617] input: gpio-keys as /devices/platform/gpio-keys/input/input3
[    1.088219] pinephone-keyboard 2-0015: Keyboard was not found on the I2C bus, maybe it's disconnected.

[_radv_]

Same here. Mine also stopped registering keys, but charging works.

I think this problem appeared because I removed the keyboard while the phone was still turned on. 
...

Probably not a good idea, but I doubt that was the cause.  I say that mostly because that's not something I did.  Mine just never worked.  I got the phone in October and tje keyboard a few weeks later.  It hasn't worked, yet.

[dachalife]

Sometimes you have to shim the pins a bit, I just used a piece of folded paper & a dental pick to help slide it in; that has worked for close to a year./ Updates can break things too.

Also, kb151 needs to be loaded, here’s an old link for review :

https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?...ight=kb151

(The kbc is working with fine on Mobian with kernel 5.15-sunxi64)

[_radv_]

@dachalife , I've noticed the suggestion to add a shim. The problem here is that the keyboard charges, but doesn't type. This suggests to me that a shim isn't necessary; the keyboard's making contact with the pogo pins because it's charging. Does that seem reasonable? What do you think? Seems as if the keyboard would be completely nonfunctional if wasn't properly contacting the pins?

[dachalife]

Shimming made mine work more reliably, as I change cases & over time not all of the pins would make a connection.

[theResonant]

Sometimes you have to shim the pins a bit, I just used a piece of folded paper & a dental pick to help slide it in; that has worked for close to a year./ Updates can break things too.

Also, kb151 needs to be loaded, here’s an old link for review :

https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?...ight=kb151

(The kbc is working with fine on Mobian with kernel 5.15-sunxi64)

In my case, the keyboard always worked without raising the POGO pad. But I tried right now to add thick paper under the POGO pad, and unfortunately it didn't help. Tightening the screws of the phone frame didn't help either.

I'm on postmarketOS, which uses the `pinephone-keyboard` driver, already in the Linux kernel. It has worked great until a few days ago, when the keyboard stopped working all of a sudden. The phone had lost power completely, I tried to reboot (booted partially, keyboard working), then died again. I then detached the phone, charged it partially and next time I attached the keyboard case, it wasn't working anymore.

Now `dmesg | grep keyboard` only says this:

Code:

pinephone-keyboard 2-0015: Keyboard was not found on the I2C bus, maybe it's disconnected.

Leaving the keyboard to charge overnight didn't revive it. Of course, the phone is charged by the keyboard, and the button that turns charging on and off works well. The keys themselves however do nothing.

I'm now trying to make the phone discharge completely again (including the keyboard's battery), hoping to reset the internal MCU of the keyboard somehow.

Could you please show the output of `i2cdetect -l` on your phone?

On my phone, it says

Code:

i2c-0   unknown         mv64xxx_i2c adapter                     N/A
i2c-1   unknown         mv64xxx_i2c adapter                     N/A
i2c-2   unknown         mv64xxx_i2c adapter                     N/A
i2c-3   unknown         DesignWare HDMI                         N/A
i2c-4   unknown         i2c-csi                                 N/A
i2c-5   unknown         i2c-1-mux (chan_id 0)                   N/A

and I'm not sure if the keyboard is supposed to appear on this list or not.